Tuesday, April 18, 2017

In Defense of Episode IX

There's more where that came from!

AVAST: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD. YE BE WARNED!

Some
folk appear to be up in arms that Carrie Fischer (a moment of silence, a raised
glass of Scotch) won’t appear in Episode IX.
They claim this proves that the Disney-ification of Star Wars is now complete. They’ve altered the Star Wars universe, and fans
should just shut up and pray they don’t alter it further.

Except
they’re wrong.

The most amazing thing is that Disney totally gets what Star Wars is all about.

It’s
not just explosions and whizzing gadgetry (which is what Lucas devolved it
into), but rather about the relationships—those who are family, and those who
become family. Anyone who doubts this
need look no further than Star Wars: Rogue
One which took a few lines from Episode IV’s crawl and crafted it into an
impressive movie that displays exactly that depth of understanding about the
franchise. This is not to say that Rogue One is a perfect movie—it’s
not. But it is a perfect Star Wars movie because it taps into all
the things that made the Original Trilogy great, without relying on the upping
the ante from the elements which have started to get tired. Jyn Erso is plagued with relationships. She tries to play herself off as
tough-as-nails rebel without a cause.
She sneers at any authority figure like Brando replying to the question,
“What are you rebelling against?” and says, “What have you got?” But really, much like Vader, Luke and Leia,
it’s her family background—her biological parents and her adoptive
father-figure—who have placed her in this position. To move forward, she has to form new
relationships, new ties to unlikely people.
Essentially, Jyn stiches together her own “family” through shared needs
and goals.

You don't know the POWER of CGI.

Disney
even put money into the iconic characters, like Tarkin, who we’ve been quoting
and fan-storying for years. We get to see
the walking, talking legends from another camera angle making new what was once
old. Sure, Tarkin strays into the
uncanny valley from time to time, but on the whole, for a character that filled
a supporting role, we get an impressive CGI creation that makes you forget that
Peter Cushing passed away in 1994. Even
when Disney dips back into the well, with The
Force Awakens, they didn’t trot out Han and Luke and Leia and Chewbacca and
C3PO and R2D2 and all the rest just for a dog and pony show. If that had been the case, Luke and R2 would
have had lines and actions beyond the few moments they were given. Think about the “prequels” (those “things”
that only exist in a parallel universe for some) and how much fan-service Lucas
crammed in with R2 being able to fly, C3PO being “programmed” by Anakin and
other such nonsense. Instead, Disney
treated the Original Trilogy with the kid gloves of a high priestess unwrapping
the Holiest of Holies to reveal before a congregation of true believers and new
acolytes. They pay just enough fan
service to the former, while whetting the appetite for the later, telling both
groups, “Yes. It’s true. All of it.”

But you HAVE heard of him!

Chewbacca,
what a Wookie, is the perfect example of this.
In The Force Awakens,instead of treating him as a throw-away
character present for comic relief and not good even to receive a medal (please
don’t retcon in the comments for me, I already know the arguments), we see the
deep, deep friendship that had to exist all along between Han and him. We see that he has friendships beyond the Falcon and Solo. He argues, cajoles, grows angry and
emotional, especially during THAT ONE SCENE at the end. He doesn’t swing on a vine with a
Tarzan-esque cry for the sake of juxtaposed “hilarity”. He’s an intelligent being of deep emotion
that has never been revealed on film before now. And yet, there he is, and you can just feel,
just FEEL the waves that come off him during THAT ONE SCENE. Of all the Star Wars souls we've encountered, his may be the most . . . human!

There
are so many clever nuanced moments that reflect Disney’s deep understanding of
the Original Trilogy. Gone (mostly) are
the days when Disney would release sequels direct-to-video to suck at the
pockets of parents trying to keep their children silent for thirty
minutes. This Star Wars crew knows they’re dealing with a series that has both
hardcore fans and casual viewers. They’ve
walked that line perfectly with both The
Force Awakens and Rogue One so
much so that I’m willing to cut them a great deal of slack on these kinds of
decisions, including leaving Leia out of the “last” movie.

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About Me

R.A. McCandless has been a writer both professionally and creatively for nearly two decades. He was born under a wandering star that led to a degree in Communication and English with a focus on creative writing. He is the author of the urban fantasy novel “Tears of Heaven” (EPIC Award Finalist) and “Hell Become Her” (due 2015). His short stories have appeared in “Nine Heroes: Tales of Heroic Fantasy”, “In Shambles” and “Gears, Gadgets and Steam”. He continues to research and write historical and genre fiction, battle sprinklers, and play with his three boys.